Curia archbishop challenges Swiss Guard over gay lobby claim

Published: 22 January 2014

The Vatican’s third-highest ranking official has challenged a former vice-commander of the Swiss Guards to name names after declaring that a gay lobby existed in the Roman Curia and was a threat to the Pope's security, reports The Tablet.

Mr Mäder, the Swiss Guards' vice-commander from 2002-08, made his claims to the Swiss paper Schweiz am Sonntag. He insinuated that there was a great 'risk of disloyalty' among gay people, saying he 'learned that many homosexuals are inclined to be more loyal to each other than to other people or institutions.'

His comments appeared this weekend just two weeks after another former Swiss Guard told the paper that he had received up to 20 'unambiguous requests' for sex from Vatican officials, including a cardinal. That former Swiss Guard, who spoke anonymously, said he served during the John Paul II era.

'As in the past, no one has come forward with names and surnames,' Archbishop Becciu told the Italian daily, La Repubblica.

'There are those who speak about a gay lobby but no one has yet been able to figure out where this lobby is,' he said.